


Who taught Tohru to swear

by rookiehedgewitch



Category: Fruits Basket, Fruits Basket - Takaya Natsuki (Manga)
Genre: Akito is gender fluid because hell yeah, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Humor, One Shot, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:28:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26133466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rookiehedgewitch/pseuds/rookiehedgewitch
Summary: Tohru says a bad word at dinner and Yuki and Kyo are determined to find out who taught her to swear.Post-canon, with some divergence.
Relationships: Honda Tohru/Sohma Kyou, Kuragi Machi/Sohma Yuki, Sohma Hatsuharu/Sohma Rin
Comments: 7
Kudos: 118





	Who taught Tohru to swear

"Oh I chipped this plate. Fuck.” 

“Kyo,” Shigure frowned, looking up from his dinner. “I understand you’re 18 now but you’re still living under my roof and I’d ask you don’t use such foul language.” 

“Heh?” Kyo turned from the TV. “What are you talking about old man. I didn’t say anything. Get your hearing checked.” 

“Then Yuki, I really expected better from you.” 

“It wasn’t me.” The silver haired boy sighed. 

“Then, it must be...” all three men looked at the only other person in the room, their expressions a trio of slack-jawed, wide-eyed horror. 

Tohru frowned down at her plate, holding a small shard of porcelain in one hand. She looked up, perplexion marking her expression.

“What are you all looking at?” Before anyone could answer, Kyo had scrambled over to her, and captured her face between his hands. 

“Tohru, what did you just say?” He squeezed her cheeks, so her lips pursed like a fish. His eyes searched his girlfriend’s face. 

“What do you mean? I just chipped a plate.” She mumbled, her voice mushy under his grip.

“No, what you said after that? Where did you learn a word like that?” 

“What do you mean where did she learn a word like that?” Yuki scoffed. “You have such a foul mouth that clearly she picked it up from being around you. Tohru, please find a man who doesn’t swear like a sailor.” 

“Like hell I taught her that! It was probably this creep.” Kyo cried, jerking his head towards Shigure. 

“Moi? I would never sully such sweet innocence with that kind of language.” 

“I don’t think-“ Tohru said, her tone still muffled by Kyo’s grip. Gently, she guided his hands off of her cheeks. “I don’t think it was any of you.” 

“It must have been someone.” Kyo said, leaning forward and examining Tohru’s face again. She blushed under his fierce gaze. 

“It was probably just on TV.” Shigure. 

“No, we don’t watch anything like that.” Yuki shook his head. “But honestly Kyo, does it really matter who taught her to say that?”

“Yeah it matters! Someone’s gotta pay!” 

Tohru exchanged a brief glance with Shigure, and sighed. The curse had been broken a week ago. And obviously she didn’t expect the boys to have mended their rivalry just like that, but they were still bickering constantly. Something had to give.

“Hey, Carrots. Where’s the girl?” Kyo paused his stretching as Hana and Uotani appeared over the top of the steps to the house.

“She’s in her room.” He called back, and returned to his stretch, only to stop again a second later.

“Hey, Uotani, did you teach Tohru to say fuck?” 

“Huh?” The gangster grimaced, moving to roll up her sleeves. “What are you trying to suggest? You think I’d teach our precious Tohru that kinda crap? Damn, carrots. If anyone’s gonna teach her that, it’s you.” 

“It wasn’t me!” Kyo protested. “Why does everyone think I did it?” Tohru stepped out into the yard, giving her two friends a big hug.

“You do have colorful language.” Hana sighed, petting Tohru’s head. “Your father and I have always thought so.” 

“Please don’t say it that.” Kyo groaned, his stomach turning. 

“Ok, Kyo,” Tohru bounded over to him, her smile brighter than the sun itself. “I’ll be back for dinner.” 

“Have fun today.” Kyo smiled, pulling her into a tight hug. She squealed in protest, saying something about how he’d get his sweat all over her dress. Kyo finally relinquished her, stealing a quick kiss on her cheek. He’d never tire of that feeling, of holding her as close as he could but still it not being close enough.

”So Tohru said fuck?” Kyo stopped in the kitchen to find Machi and Yuki sitting at the living room table. He’d said very little to Machi since she and Yuki started seeing each other. She was so quiet, it was kind of hard to find things to talk about. Tohru went out with Machi last weekend and even she had difficulties getting Machi to open up. And anyone who met Tohru had a tendency to tell her their life story within an hour of meeting her. 

“Huh? Yeah.”

“It could have been Hatsuharu.” She commented, resting her chin on her palm.

“It’s possible. You know how he can get when he goes Dark.” Yuki mused.

“Yeah but he rarely goes Dark anymore.” Kyo slumped down at the table, taking a long swig of water. 

“It couldn’t have been Momiji. Or Kisa.” Yuki considered, flipping open his notebook. Kyo peered over and saw a list of names, his own included. Yuki circled Haru’s name.

“I thought you didn’t care.” Kyo smirked.

“I don’t care as much as you. Because I’m not a creepy overbearing boyfriend.” Yuki sighed in his annoyingly airy voice.

“I’m not the one who made a list.” The orange-haired boy teased.

“Whatever.” Yuki stood, closing the notebook with a snap. “I’m going to get more tea.” He stalked from the room, leaving Kyo and Machi alone. 

“He does care. A lot.” Her expression didn’t change from its usual stone faced look, but Kyo sensed a teasing note in her tone. 

“That much is obvious.” Kyo rolled his eyes.

“We were going over to the main house to talk to people and see if anyone knew where she might have picked it up.” 

“Huh I was also thinking of heading over.” Kyo noted.

“We’ll go with you then.” Machi stood, smoothing our her skirt. 

“Huh?” Yuki froze in the threshold of the living room.

“Kyo said he was heading over to the main estate, so we’ll walk with him. That’s not a problem, right?” The girl said, offering a rare smile at Yuki. Kyo’s curiosity peaked as Yuki went bright red, and then nodded. Apparently it wasn’t just Tohru’s word that was law to Yuki anymore. Machi clearly knew how to pull that boy’s strings. 

Which is how Kyo wound up third wheeling Yuki and Machi on their way to the main house. Kyo slumped behind them, while Machi and Yuki walked hand in hand, with her swinging their arms forward and back. 

“Kyo, you’re planning on working at a dojo after high school, right?” Machi asked, looking over her shoulder. “Tohru mentioned it.”

“Yeah. I’ll work there for a while, and then inherit my Master’s dojo when he’s ready to retire.” 

“Wait?” Yuki’s eyes went wide. “I thought you were going to work at Shishou’s place.” 

“Nah, he said it will be good for me to get some other experiences.”

“Do you know where the other dojo will be?” Yuki asked as they turned into the gates to the main house.

“It’s gonna be in the mountains.”

“So you will be moving out of Shigure’s, then. And what about Tohru?” 

“I dunno about Tohru. I wanted her to make the decision on her own. But yeah, of course I’ll be moving out of Shigure’s. You’re moving when you go to university. Right? I don’t want to be stuck with that creep.” 

“I suppose not. I guess I just assumed that you’d be staying close to home.” Yuki frowned.

“I’ve been looking for apartments online all week. God, you’re really oblivious.” Kyo shoved his hands in his pockets, and brushed past them both towards Hatsuharu’s house.  
Yuki’s grip on Machi’s hand tightened, and they continued after the orange-haired boy.

“I didn’t teach her that. I would never teach your mother such lewd language, Yuki.” Haru didn’t even bother looking up from his video game.

“Please don’t call her that.” Yuki sighed, and slumped back on the sofa where Machi and Rin were seated. The two girls had only met a few times, but they got on well. Much to Haru’s delight.

“You do think of her as your mother, though.” Machi commented, pouring herself a cup of tea.

“I don’t think of her as my mother. And I can’t believe Kakeru told that to everyone.” Yuki steamed, as his cheeks went bright red.

“If Tohru and Kyon get married, then he’ll be your father.” Rin added, and Yuki’s face went even darker.

“Then you’ll have to show me some damn respect.” Kyo grinned, picking up the spare controller.

“Is this what you’re wearing tonight?” Rin eyed Machi.

“Oh, no. I brought a spare change of clothes.” The girl patted her bag.

“Let’s see it then.” 

“Wait, where are you going with Rin tonight?” Yuki furrowed his brow while his girlfriend rooted around in her bag.

“We’re going to a concert.” She explained, pulling out a black top and a black pair of jeans. Yuki had never seen her in anything but skirts and muted earth tones. But this outfit looked more like something Rin would wear.

“What kind of concert?” He said, worry working at his mind.

“A metal concert.” Haru noted.

“What?” Yuki gasped.

“Isuzu said it might help me work out some of my anger.” Machi mumbled.

“Yuki, you should come too.” The former cow said.

“It would probably be dangerous for him to go. If his lungs gave out how would you get him out of the mosh pit?” Yuki stared at the back of Kyo’s head in awe, but the boy didn’t even seem to realize what he’d said. Yuki didn’t think he’d ever heard Kyo say something so considerate. 

An odd guilt began to settle in Yuki’s chest. Kyo had known that Yuki was planning on moving out of Shigure’s, and he seemed to care whether Yuki was safe. But Yuki hadn’t even known that Kyo was leaving the city. He’d always considered himself the more well behaved of the two, but maybe that wasn’t so true. 

Kyo lost to Haru in the game, and dropped his controller on the couch. 

“Ok, we should keep looking. If it’s not Haru, it must be Akito or Hiro. I swear if it was that little punk, I’m gonna punch him into next week.” Kyo stood, stretching.

“Ready Machi?” But when Yuki turned back to his girlfriend, he found her absent on the couch. Rin was also missing. 

“Where did they go?” In answer of his question, Yuki’s phone screen lit up with Machi’s name.

“Rin wanted to show me her outfit, so I’m going to go get ready with her. You and Kyo should keep looking though.” The text read.

“What’d she say?” Kyo lingered in the doorway, clearly impatient to keep looking.

“She said to go on without her.” Yuki slid the phone back into his pocket.

“Alright then, let’s go.” 

The two boys moved across the main estate in silence, and as Akito’s quarters loomed closer, Kyo noticed that his cousin’s shoulders had gone stiff.

“You don’t have to see them you know. I can talk to them alone.” Kyo sighed, running a hand through the hair at the nape of his neck.

“No, it’s ok.” 

“Alright.” Kyo heaved his shoulders with indifference. “Well if it gets to be too much, lemme know.” 

Kyo noticed the surprised glances of the maids as they passed through the quiet hall. Internally, he couldn’t blame them. He himself wasn’t even sure how he’d wound up traipsing through the main estate with the rat. 

“Akito, you in here?” Kyo slid open the door to Akito’s room, and stared in at a much changed room. Before, Akito’s room was so barren. No furniture or decoration that would give anyone any indication that Akito had a personality or interests outside of their status as head of the Sohma clan. 

But now it was decorated from toe to tip in such a way that it looked like three different people with three different personalities lived in that one room. One corner looked like Momiji had decorated it. Posters and string lights cluttered the walls, while stuffed animals and fluffy pillows littered the floors. In another, there was a sleek modern desk with almost no decoration. And the other half of the room was completely covered in crumpled clothes, half-read manga, empty candy wrappers, and discarded blankets.

Somewhere in this dimly lit mess, a figure under a blanket shifted, and Akito’s pitch black hair became visible, illuminated by the light of some handheld console. 

“Oh, it’s you.” Akito brushed their hair out of their face, maybe in an attempt to make it look presentable. The long black strands fell back over their eyes. Kyo noticed that Yuki hadn’t entered the room yet. When Kyo looked back, Yuki seemed frozen in his spot. 

“What’s that?” The former cat asked, kicking aside clothes and books to make a path towards the former head of the house.

“A game.” They shrugged, still looking at the handheld console’s screen. Kyo watched Akito maneuver his avatar through what looked like a virtual farm. 

Kyo looked around the room again, and thought of something Tohru had said. 

_“Poor Akito,”_ she’d sighed, her eyes tearing up. _“It must be so hard to try to find themselves now that it’s all over. Imagine being told all your life that you were cast in a play as a role you didn’t choose, and then suddenly the play ends much sooner than you thought it would. What do you do then?”_

The thing was, Kyo didn’t have to imagine what that would be like. Or, at least, not entirely. At least he’d been free. Meanwhile Akito had never even left the Sohma estate without supervision. The whole world would be new to them now. Maybe the room was Akito trying different personalities on, trying to find what suited them best.

“Did you teach Tohru any swear words recently?” He asked. Only then, did Akito look up from their game. 

“Not that I know of. Did she say something?” Akito’s brow creased.

“She said fuck.” 

“I really can’t imagine that.” The bewildered head gaped.

“I’m still trying to process it.” Out of the corner of his eye, Kyo saw Yuki had actually entered the room now, but kept to the shadows so Akito couldn’t see him. 

“I swear I didn’t teach her.” Akito set down their game, and Kyo watched as they grew small and nervous. “I really promise, Kyo. I wouldn’t say anything like that around her.” Their bottom lip began to tremble, and Kyo had to cut it off there before it got any worse.

“It’s ok, I believe you.” He stooped over and plucked the controller out of Akito’s hands.

“Is this expensive?”

“I don’t really know. It’s Momiji’s. He let me borrow it.”

“It looks fun.” Kyo commented. Maybe Tohru would like something like this. She’d never really expressed interest in video games, but she liked farming with Yuki. Kyo couldn’t be sure that his new dojo would have a garden, so maybe this could be a replacement for Tohru. But he was getting ahead of himself. Tohru hadn’t even said she’d be going with him. He returned the device to Akito’s awaiting hands.

“Alright, well I’ll keep asking around.” When Kyo looked up, Yuki had gone from the room again. “See you later Akito.” 

“Yeah. See you later.” 

“It really smells in there.” Kyo commented when they were far enough away from the room. “Akito should learn how to clean up after themselves and not just wait until Tohru comes over.” 

“How do you do it?” Yuki asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

“Do what?” 

“Talk to them like that. Without any discomfort?” Yuki thought back to the way Kyo had just leaned over and taken something of Akito’s without asking. Straight out of their hands like it was no big deal.

“I guess I barely knew Akito back then. I only saw them a few times. I guess it was easier for me to start over.” 

“I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to start over.”

“I don’t think anyone expects you to. It would be pretty ridiculous if they did. Now come on, we should find Hiro. I knew it was that little brat.” Yuki stood still, watching Kyo’s back as he moved forward. When had Kyo become so reasonable? 

As it turns out, Hiro hadn’t been the one to teach Tohru to swear either.

“I’m just a kid, I don’t know any of those words. In fact you should be ashamed of yourself, saying something like that in front of a kid.” He huffed, and it took all of Kyo’s strength not to hit the boy over the head.

“Did Tohru really say that?” Kisa set aside her homework. 

“I don’t think she meant anything by it. I think it just slipped out.” Yuki smiled patiently.

“I don’t know, Tohru’s always so careful with what she says. Especially when she could make people worried. She must have been really upset.” 

“It was something relatively minor, which makes it all the more surprising.” Yuki pondered.

“Guess this is a dead end.” Kyo sighed. “Maybe she did just pick it up on TV or the radio.” 

“How did someone like Tohru end up surrounded by so many unsavory people?” Yuki mused as they ambled home.

“Well Kyoko was her mom. I don’t think Tohru has ever not been around thugs and gangsters.” Kyo scoffed. 

“That’s true. It’s almost a wonder she’s so good.” Kyo felt a rush of warmth fill him to the brim as he thought of the girl. 

“What are you going to do if she decides to stay in the city?” 

“I would come and visit every weekend. It would probably be for the best. She’d be happier here, anyway, closer to her friends. What reason would she even go to the mountains?” Kyo frowned.

“Well, for one, you would be there. That feels like a pretty big reason to me.” Yuki added. “Do you want her to go?”

“I-“ Kyo frowned, his desires torn. “I guess I’d want her with me. I’ve grown so used to having her around all the time, I can’t imagine not being near her, y’know?”

“You should tell her that.” The grey-haired boy mused. “I think it would make her happy to hear.”

“But you know her. If she thinks I want something then she’ll ignore what she wants. I want her to decide for herself.” 

“Careful,” the former rat smiled. “Putting her wishes in front of yours entirely. You’re sounding a lot like her right now.” 

Their eyes met, and Kyo saw something that he’d never seen before from Yuki. It was almost like the way he looked at Haru, or Tohru. Like he gave a shit about Kyo's happiness.

“You know. Now that the curse is over, I guess, I wanted to say... well, I mean. Life hasn’t been easy, for either of us. I wish I’d been, er, well.” Kyo sighed, clearly getting no where.

“I had fun today.” Yuki said, offering one of those princely smiles. Kyo couldn’t tell if it was entirely genuine, but it seemed that way. And a small part of him hoped it was genuine.

“Yeah, I guess I had fun too.” 

As soon as they got home, Yuki went back to his room, and Kyo borrowed Shigure’s computer to search for apartments. They passed the evening in silence. As Yuki read, he received a text from Haru. It was a photo, a blurry one at that, but he could see a smudge of a girl that must be Machi. She was dressed all in black, with her hair pulled up in two buns, her bangs clinging to her face. Rin was next to her, similarly dressed, in mid scream. Machi was smiling, with a fire in her eyes Yuki had only seen a few times before.

“Your girl is the queen of the mosh pit.” Haru added in text. Yuki smiled, shaking his head. 

From downstairs, he heard the door open and close, and Tohru’s gentle voice calling “I’m home!” A pair of heavy footsteps echoed below him, and a low muffled voice greeted Tohru. Yuki padded downstairs, and greeted the girl with a warm smile.

“How was your day Yuki?” She remarked, taking off her shoes.

“It was fun. How was yours?”

“That’s good to hear! And my day was so fun! We saw a movie, and ate our weight in ice cream!” 

“That’s good to hear.”

“I think there’s a mogeta special on. Does anyone want to watch? I can make popcorn!” 

Tohru sat between Yuki and Kyo. Kyo’s fingers were interlaced between hers, while Yuki comfortably rested his head on her shoulder. The boys had only spoken a few times during the film, mostly to comment on the plot holes and over dramatic reactions. But Tohru knew something had changed. For instance, Yuki had laughed at one of the silly jokes in the film, and he didn’t bother to hide it in front of Kyo. And Kyo later had offered to braid Tohru’s hair. A younger Kyo would had died before he admitted he knew how to braid hair.   
After the movie ended, and the boys had returned to their rooms, Tohru checked the phone that Shigure had given her.

There was one text from Machi, reading “did it work?”

Tohru smiled to herself, and typed back. “It worked! They got along like a dream! Although if we ever need to do this again, maybe we can do something that doesn’t involve me swearing.”

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like Machi and Rin would get along. They both have so much rage. 
> 
> Also, I feel like Akito is using gender neutral pronouns because I feel like after their entire life disguised as a man it would make sense for them to explore a bunch of different identities and find what feels right. Also they're 10/10 playing Stardew Valley on the Switch.


End file.
